Live Rock Question - KP Aquatics Live Rock Curing Timing/Process

VermontReefs

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I am roughly 2 months away from my new Cade 1200 seeing water for the first time because of fish room renovations. I am purchasing about a 100lbs or so of KP Aquatics Uncured Aquacultured Live Rock shipped in water for my system. I've been out of the hobby for 10 years and the last time I reefed was with Fiji LR etc and I cured for about a week in a brute then cycled in my tank for a month or so.

Question: Would you purchase the uncured rock live rock from KP and cure it for 2+ months prior or should I wait? I'll be using the KP rock shipped in water most likely. Thoughts? I'd love to hear from some other KP users as well. Thanks!
 
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brandon429

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takes ten days

pay for the wet shipping mode

pre cure off any known items that you don't see in casual reef pics on the board.

for example I know nobody other than perhaps Paul/ocean water/ who are keeping rows of tunicates alive densely covered in diverse macroalgae etc

most of this is live rock and coralline where lucky, and a few spindly ??'s owing to the rock you're about to get, pre cure them ahead of time of mass you'd expect to lose anyway, with a knife.

cure in brutes using dechlor saltwater tap because you need to change it a few times and the ro/di saltwater can wait for y our tank

simply lift them up every few days and smell them, don't waste time tinkering w ammonia kits that w mislead you three months. when they smell normal after ten days, or on ten days of brute water changes and pre curing, then they're ready. its not a monthslong cure.

we should start a thread on this, visually pre curing kp rock within ten days, no testing required.

updated cycling rules knows that the bacteria are never harmed in the shipping process, they're merely overcame a while and with flushing water changes vs any additives, you are removing the cascading effect and it will smell normal by the said date. if ammonia was uncontrolled, and able to overcome the natural powerful bac you just bought, it w smell like literal cat litter.

but it wont.
 
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VermontReefs

VermontReefs

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Are you saying you would pay for the “wet shipping” aka wrapped in paper or shipped in water?

My only concern is losing all the benefits of wet shipping if it’s not going in my tank to cycle for at least two months.

Ive cured plenty of rock back in the day but I didn’t hold it for two months.... I had it in the tank after a quick cure/cycle prob 2-3 weeks. So that’s my question. Buy now or wait. Does either method have a benefit over the other etc.

I’m trying to keep all the micro fauna and beneficial bacteria etc from LR wet shipping otherwise why pay the premium.
 

brandon429

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its just the ideal way, the other w work just about the same we see in posts. the rock only takes months to cure when using common ammonia tests, we can't even get those to work consistently in two year old reefs so when a reading shows free ammonia on new rocks, 100% of readers take it as still curing. the smell test is a neat interception point if you ever want to begin, and a kit still says .25 is there
 

Mike S

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I just received 70 lbs of KP rock yesterday and had it shipped in water. Cost me about 180 to have it shipped freight but I felt it was well worth it. Rock came out looking fantastic and went right into my new display. I was planning on it taking several weeks to cycle, but unless something goes sideways I’m expecting it to be ready to start transferring fish within the next two weeks. If you are going to invest the money to ship it in water I’d plan on holding off closer to when your tank will be ready unless you’d be able to light it and keep the coralline growing.
 

JosephM

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I got 40lbs shipped damp and just threw it right in my tank. Used the die off to start my cycle and I was cycled within 7 days doing 1-2 water changes a day and massive water changes the last 2 days. Haven’t looked back since
 
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I just received 70 lbs of KP rock yesterday and had it shipped in water. Cost me about 180 to have it shipped freight but I felt it was well worth it. Rock came out looking fantastic and went right into my new display. I was planning on it taking several weeks to cycle, but unless something goes sideways I’m expecting it to be ready to start transferring fish within the next two weeks. If you are going to invest the money to ship it in water I’d plan on holding off closer to when your tank will be ready unless you’d be able to light it and keep the coralline growing.
That's along the line of what I was thinking! thx for your input! Do you have any pics of the rock by chance? Is it arriving with macro/micro algae other than coralline? I'm hoping it doesnt because I'd prefer to not have random green plants on my reef....just a personal choice. I'm sure a tang would make quick work of it if it did.
 

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No macro algae at all on the rock I received. There may be some remnants of of some that was scrubbed off. It was covered with dark purple and some red coralline algae and a variety of sponges and feather dusters. I soaked the rock in a high salinity bath for a minute or so to see what critters came off. Found several starfish, a few shrimp, a couple of hermits and very small crab and they all went in my display. It was some of the nicest rock I’ve come across. Not quiet as light as punkani but pretty close. Here’s a pic of some of it in my tank. Haven’t arranged it yet... that’s tonight’s task.
 

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rockdiver

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Got my rock from Gulf Live Rock.
Definitely ship wet to airport.
I received 2 shipments 90lbs 1st 100 lbs 2nd put in a tub just to figure out how to scape it. So like just a few hours.
Everything is doing great sponges mostly didn't survive but everything else did.
2nd shipment about idk month or so later same thing and this time I had some fish in there slight cycle but no biggie.
So right into the tank and have it flowen to you.
 

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VermontReefs

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Mike that KP Rock looks awesome!!! That's nicer stuff than the premium LR I was receiving on 10+ years ago from the islands. Thanks for the pics! If you have any other close ups I'm sure many of us would like to see them. Thanks for the info!
 

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I just received 70 lbs of KP rock yesterday and had it shipped in water. Cost me about 180 to have it shipped freight but I felt it was well worth it. Rock came out looking fantastic and went right into my new display. I was planning on it taking several weeks to cycle, but unless something goes sideways I’m expecting it to be ready to start transferring fish within the next two weeks. If you are going to invest the money to ship it in water I’d plan on holding off closer to when your tank will be ready unless you’d be able to light it and keep the coralline growing.
I triply agree. I'm lucky enough to live an hour away from KP so I got mine in water as well. Put 100lbs right into my tank and it didn't even cycle. I would highly recommend waiting and getting it fresh, shipped wet, and creating a reef in short order.
 

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I received 125 pounds of KP shipped in water for my Reefer 900, 240 gallon about 2 weeks ago. Shipped in water is worth the extra shipping cost. I added it directly to the new tank. Did three 60 gallon water changes over a 5 day period. At one point ammonia go to 1.2. It doesn't need to cycle long being shipped in water, it lived.

I have added a couple feather dusters and about 25 snails. Brown ugly's are about gone. I am going to order another 80 ponds next week.



Rock3.jpg
Rock 1.jpg
 

Mike S

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Mike that KP Rock looks awesome!!! That's nicer stuff than the premium LR I was receiving on 10+ years ago from the islands. Thanks for the pics! If you have any other close ups I'm sure many of us would like to see them. Thanks for the info!

I’ve started and restarted 3 tanks now with punaki dry rock. I did use some manado live rock years ago and I remember that being nice but not as nice as this and much denser. I can’t remember what the rock was like in my oringal reef tank back in the mid 90s... memory doesn’t go back that far lol.

I’m scraping now and will get some picture when I’m done. Try to keep it pretty minimal this time with lots of room from growth.
 
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VermontReefs

VermontReefs

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I received 125 pounds of KP shipped in water for my Reefer 900, 240 gallon about 2 weeks ago. Shipped in water is worth the extra shipping cost. I added it directly to the new tank. Did three 60 gallon water changes over a 5 day period. At one point ammonia go to 1.2. It doesn't need to cycle long being shipped in water, it lived.

I have added a couple feather dusters and about 25 snails. Brown ugly's are about gone. I am going to order another 80 ponds next week.



Rock3.jpg
Rock 1.jpg
Thank you for the pics! Beautiful stuff! How do you find the rock to be for scaping? Obvi it's never gonna be perfect like the dry stuff but I just can't do dry rock....too many issues with algae outbreaks etc. This stuff looks legit! I'm not concerned about the price whatsoever because I know it's worth it. Can you shoot me a pic of what 125 pounds looks like please? That's roughly what I'm going to order for my Cade 1200. Do you have a FTS pic? Thanks ladies & gents. If anyone else uses KP Id love to see your rock pics....even if you're established.
 
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VermontReefs

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I’ve started and restarted 3 tanks now with punaki dry rock. I did use some manado live rock years ago and I remember that being nice but not as nice as this and much denser. I can’t remember what the rock was like in my oringal reef tank back in the mid 90s... memory doesn’t go back that far lol.

I’m scraping now and will get some picture when I’m done. Try to keep it pretty minimal this time with lots of room from growth.
I too cannot remember what type of live rock I used back in the day. It wasn't the typical Fiji rock it was higher end LR. It might have been Uncured Manado LR....again that was 10+ years ago before the ban.
 

rockdiver

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Well scaping I look at it as it's what YOU like.
I put it in and the wife then comes over after I'm done since I'm told I make everything flat haha :))
Then in the back I have about 3 to 4 inches where the fish can go and more important I have flow back there I put a low flow powerhead on the bottom so I could have flow.
Still looking for a few pcs of rock that will catch my eye but till then it seems to work for us and in the end that's what matters. Happy evolved wife = more $$ to spend hahah
Oh and lots of caves that I feel is most important right next to flow
 

Jeffcb

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Thank you for the pics! Beautiful stuff! How do you find the rock to be for scaping? Obvi it's never gonna be perfect like the dry stuff but I just can't do dry rock....too many issues with algae outbreaks etc. This stuff looks legit! I'm not concerned about the price whatsoever because I know it's worth it. Can you shoot me a pic of what 125 pounds looks like please? That's roughly what I'm going to order for my Cade 1200. Do you have a FTS pic? Thanks ladies & gents. If anyone else uses KP Id love to see your rock pics....even if you're established.
I am doing a FOWLR tank. You cant glue or epoxy it like dry rock I don't think but IDK. I am just going to make 3 piles with lots of fish hiding places for fish. I just want my piles of rock to be taller.

That's 125. I am going to do another 75 or 80 and see. Defiantly do not want to cure it if you pay the extra shipping for shipped in water. Just do several 30-35 % water changes for a few days. Also using MicroBacter7.

900 2 14.jpg
 

Biokabe

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One thing I will say - KP Aquatics can get backed up, so it might be worth it to talk with them ahead of time and find out what their shipping schedule is like. You might order it and plan on it showing up one week, but it might not arrive for another 2-3 weeks past that. So if possible, maybe coordinate with them ahead of time so that you can have the rock arrive when you want it to.
 

Mike S

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Lol I just spent 30 minutes scaping and I’m done. I spent days on my previous tanks and honestly this looks just like the last one just smaller. If everything goes well I won’t be able to see the rock in a few years. I bought Marco motor and a bunch of glue with the intent of doing a NSA but not this time. . Now I just need my sump to arrive and finish plumbing and there will be fish in it soon!
 

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